Is Victoria ready for Normal?

Ravenwest Films issued the following:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Victoria, B.C. April 11, 2007– Normal, the latest feature film by acclaimed Canadian writer/director Carl Bessai (Unnatural & Accidental, Emile), has started principal production in Victoria, B.C. Created and produced by Raven West Films (Bessai) and Submission Films (Andrew Boutilier), the feature will be distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media, with London-based Bankside Films handling International Sales.

This redemptive Indie drama, Bessai’s sixth feature film, stars Carrie-Anne Moss (Memento, The Matrix Trilogy, Chocolat) as Catherine, Kevin Zegers (Transamerica, The Stone Angel) as Jordie, and Callum Keith Rennie (Case 39, The Invisible), Bessai’s star from Unnatural & Accidental, is Walt. A stellar cast of some of Canada’s most notable character actors, many of whom have also worked with the Director previously, round out the on-camera ensemble.

As the lives of three strangers spiral out of control each searches for closure from a past tragedy that flung them briefly together, then shattered their lives. Catherine is a well-to-do suburban mother who has lost the ability to connect on any meaningful level with her surgeon husband and twelve-year-old son. Walt is a failed writer and philandering University professor who deals with impending middle age and festering regrets by sabotaging every relationship around him. Jordie is a sensitive teenager who made a wrong choice one night. He’s paid a price but can’t seem to halt his journey downward.

Andrew Airlie (recurring role Intelligence, The Safety of Objects) is the husband trying to ignore the fact that his family is imploding before his eyes, with Cameron Bright (Birth, Thank You For Smoking) as the son. Tygh Runyan (Snakes On A Plane, Twist), who has starred in two of Bessai’s previous features, is Walt’s agoraphobic and utterly dependent brother. Michael Riley (St. Urbain’s Horseman, Race to Mars) plays Jordie’s frustrated father who counsels others professionally on how to mend their lives but cannot control his own violent rages, and Camille Sullivan (recurring roles Intelligence, Da Vinci’s Inquest) is his needy and neglected much younger second wife. Also in the cast are Lauren Lee Smith, Ben Ratner, Hrothgar Mathews and Gabrielle Rose.

Normal, by Raven West Films and Submission Films, is from an original screenplay by Travis McDonald (Severed, Blood Ties). He co-wrote the script with Bessai, who is also director and Cinematographer. Executive producers are Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson (Brightlight Pictures); Co-Executive Producers are Phil Hunt and Compton Ross (London-based Head Gear Films). The film, set in Victoria, B.C., is made with the participation of Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund and Movie Central. Principal photography ends April 19, 2007.